Tunnels 04, Closer

mud-caked Noddy suits weren't enough to attract attention, then a bald-headed woman with black dotted lines across her scalp, dressed in a blue tunic and wearing ruby-red slippers, was guaranteed to get them more than a passing glance. And Colly, equally as bald as Mrs. Burrows, and the size of a Great Dane, was the icing on the cake for the transfixed onlookers as she sniffed inquisitively at them.
    As they neared the exit to the square, the porter was looking them over with hostile curiosity. He was a different man from the nightshift porter Drake had met twice before, but evidently had the same commitment to his job. Knowing the suspicious-looking trio with their pet would have to pass by him on their way out, he waited, tapping his foot on the ground.
    "It's a fine afternoon," Drake agreed wholeheartedly, with his eyes half-closed as he gave the bright blue sky a glance. And before the porter could say another word, Drake proclaimed, "and if you're wondering, we're a performance art group."
    "Ahh. Artists," the porter said. Reducing his own personal Defcon, he lowered to his heels and nodded knowingly, as if he required no further explanation.
    They passed down the alleyway and out onto the street, where Drake went to the pavement's edge to hail a cab. But the people here were even more numerous than in the square, and were stopping to gawk at the strange foursome. A pair of identically dressed young Japanese punks, with huge and exaggerated coxcomb Mohicans of electric blue, strolled over to Mrs. Burrows.
    "Crucial look, sister," the boy punk said, as he regarded her with unreserved admiration.
    "Coooool lady," the girl punk squealed.
    "Thank you," Mrs. Burrows said. She'd been talking to Colly, trying to keep her calm in this new environment. The combination of the hubbub from all the people and the busy traffic passing by on
    Victoria Street
    was unsettling the Hunter, and her head was darting this way and that as she tried to take it all in.
    "Groovy cat, too," the boy punk said to the girl punk, pointing at Colly with an amazed expression. The Hunter gave him a curious sniff.
    The girl punk clapped her hands together in glee and jumped up and down. "Yay! It's Doraemon -- like in the manga!"
    "Yes, real life Doraemon robot cat!" the boy punk said. He took a quick photograph of the Hunter whilst having an animated exchange with his girlfriend in Japanese, then they finally moved on.
    Colly might have been in a state of high confusion, but Mrs. Burrows herself didn't appear to be coping that well, either. When Drake eventually found them a black cab, she looked extremely grateful as she sank into the back seat.
    "Everything all right, Mrs. Burrows?" Chester asked her.
    "Sensory overload," she merely replied, then asked for the window to be closed.
    As they stopped at some lights, the taxi driver looked over his shoulder at Colly curled up on the floor. "That really a guide dog? Never seen one like that before," he said.
    "Sure is. Now, we're in a hurry, so please put your foot down," Drake asked him.
    As they drew up beside Drake's Range Rover, he gave Chester money to pay the fare, then ushered Mrs. Burrows and Colly straight from the cab and into his car.
    "Don't you want me to come too?" Mrs. Burrows offered. "I can help."
    "Celia, you look done in, and I think we can cope without your early warning system on this one. If I know Eddie, he'll have flown the coop," Drake replied, then went to the rear of the car and opened the tailgate to get at a kit bag. "Have a Beretta," he said to Chester, passing him a handgun before tucking a second one into his belt.
    Without speaking, Drake and Chester passed down several streets until they came to the warehouse, where they hugged the wall to avoid the surveillance cameras.
    "Watch the shadows," Drake said, unlocking the door, and opening it a fraction so he could check for any booby traps. Then they both slipped inside and took out their handguns. "If he's here, he'll have seen us on the CCTV," Drake warned Chester in a whisper. 'He'll know we're coming."
    They gave themselves thirty seconds to adjust to the dim light in the main body of the warehouse, then Drake led way up the flight of stairs, continually scanning the various lumps of old machinery below in case Eddie was hiding there.
    As they reached the top, they found the door to the apartment was wide open. "Nice and slowly," Drake whispered, creeping over the threshold.
    The first thing they saw was that the